By Henry Aloysius Barry
St. Chrysostom puts it in this way:—"To impart judgment to the Son is equivalent to begetting the Judge Himself." (Homily Mx. In. Joan.) The Venerable Bede says: —"When the spirit is given by grace to men, the Holy Ghost is assuredly sent by the Father and sent by the Son,because His being sent is procession itself, for the reason that He proceeds from the Father and the Son." (Hom . Dom i, post Asc.) There are not, however, two separate processions in the Son and Holy Ghost, "one eternal and the other temporal."
In the first place, because none of the saints have ever said so. Then again, if this were granted, complications would ensue. There is truly one procession, and that eternal, according to which the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father through the Son. When, however, creatures shall have come to exist or seemed capable of a knowledge or illustration of this procession, He is said to proceed, become manifest, be poured forth and given to them, and then that, which is by itself eternal, happens to them in time. For the procession is, indeed, altogether one and always one. Nothing new transpires in God, on account of His sovereign simplicity and perfection, etc. (Calecas, Cap. v.) The action and substance of 'mission' is eternal. St. Augustine says: —"The Son accordingly is not only said to be sent, because the Word was made flesh, but therefore sent that the Word would be made flesh and, by the corporeal presence, the things that were written should be wrought out." (Lib. iv. De. Trinit. Cap. xx.)
In the light of reason one can understand that pressure, precept and prayer could not possibly enter into the idea of divine Persons being sent. The solitary remaining way then, in which a divine Person is sent, is by production, a resemblance to which is exhibited when the sun emits its rays or the tree produces its flower. "It has been amply set forth," remarks St. Augustine, "that the Son is none the lesser for being sent by the Father, nor the Holy Ghost of smaller proportions because the Father and Son sent Him. The Scriptures draw their coloring for their allusions on these points from the visible creation, at the behest of origin, without meaning inequality, disparity or disresemblance of substance; for, should God the Father have cared to manifest Himself outwardly, it would be absurd to say that He was sent by the Son, Whom He begot or by the Holy Ghost Who proceeds from Him." (Trinit. iv. n. 32.)
Briefly, then, in the Holy Ghost being sent by the Father and the Son, we have conveyed to us, thereby, the truth that He has His origin from them as from one principle, but, inasmuch as He is God, the Holy Ghost suffers from His origin no violence to the fulness of His Godhead, but, is eternally equal to the Father and Son. We cannot have too deeply inculcated upon us, nay, it is a fruitful source of perennial meditation, that this procession of the Holy Ghost, which becomes sensible to us, is eternal procession, simple and unique. A thrilling thought! The souls of men, like so many trees, have their roots fed in the eternal depths of the wisdom and love of God. That supernatural grace of God, which we have given to us by our Lord —the Holy Ghost,—traced to its source, goes back to the Son and yet on to the Father. Nay, there are not two processions, I repeat. The 'mission' of the Holy Ghost to our Christian hearts is the one, eternal, unremitting procession, of which our dull minds and leaden hearts receive for the first time a manifestation, when we have renounced sin and with it dispelled our soul-blindness. Feeble, low and delicately soft was the voice of the Spirit in the olden days, as longbearded prophet strained his ears to catch its languid witchery, a gentle wooing of the breath of August, but, it blew a gale at Pentecost, when the omnipotence of the Holy Ghost swept that upper chamber and afterwards quieted down to a revelation of secrets and an outpouring of tenderest love based on respect. What intervenes to shut out from us the manifestations of the majesty, of the potency and burning love of the Eternal Procession? Where is that Pentecostal gale, whilst like old lagoons, we tarry becalmed, nay, moored, on the waters of the Dead Sea, or moving with a disheartening slowness near the Jordan's shore, where a short leap would bring us to the shore and the old ways of sin and lethargy? The Holy Ghost is the medium between the Father and the Son in the sense in which He is the love of the Father for the Son and of the Son for the Father; the immanent terminus produced by that love is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, as subsistent love, has figured in the writings of the Fathers as the medium between the Father and the Son. He is called, accordingly, "The unity of Both" by St. Augustine and others, and by St. Bernard, "the mutual kiss of the Father and Son," and the "imperturbable peace," and the "sealing wax," and, "The indissoluble chain of the Trinity." In another sense, the Son is called the medium between the Father and the Holy Ghost.
St. Chrysostom puts it in this way:—"To impart judgment to the Son is equivalent to begetting the Judge Himself." (Homily Mx. In. Joan.) The Venerable Bede says: —"When the spirit is given by grace to men, the Holy Ghost is assuredly sent by the Father and sent by the Son,because His being sent is procession itself, for the reason that He proceeds from the Father and the Son." (Hom . Dom i, post Asc.) There are not, however, two separate processions in the Son and Holy Ghost, "one eternal and the other temporal."
In the first place, because none of the saints have ever said so. Then again, if this were granted, complications would ensue. There is truly one procession, and that eternal, according to which the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father through the Son. When, however, creatures shall have come to exist or seemed capable of a knowledge or illustration of this procession, He is said to proceed, become manifest, be poured forth and given to them, and then that, which is by itself eternal, happens to them in time. For the procession is, indeed, altogether one and always one. Nothing new transpires in God, on account of His sovereign simplicity and perfection, etc. (Calecas, Cap. v.) The action and substance of 'mission' is eternal. St. Augustine says: —"The Son accordingly is not only said to be sent, because the Word was made flesh, but therefore sent that the Word would be made flesh and, by the corporeal presence, the things that were written should be wrought out." (Lib. iv. De. Trinit. Cap. xx.)
In the light of reason one can understand that pressure, precept and prayer could not possibly enter into the idea of divine Persons being sent. The solitary remaining way then, in which a divine Person is sent, is by production, a resemblance to which is exhibited when the sun emits its rays or the tree produces its flower. "It has been amply set forth," remarks St. Augustine, "that the Son is none the lesser for being sent by the Father, nor the Holy Ghost of smaller proportions because the Father and Son sent Him. The Scriptures draw their coloring for their allusions on these points from the visible creation, at the behest of origin, without meaning inequality, disparity or disresemblance of substance; for, should God the Father have cared to manifest Himself outwardly, it would be absurd to say that He was sent by the Son, Whom He begot or by the Holy Ghost Who proceeds from Him." (Trinit. iv. n. 32.)
Briefly, then, in the Holy Ghost being sent by the Father and the Son, we have conveyed to us, thereby, the truth that He has His origin from them as from one principle, but, inasmuch as He is God, the Holy Ghost suffers from His origin no violence to the fulness of His Godhead, but, is eternally equal to the Father and Son. We cannot have too deeply inculcated upon us, nay, it is a fruitful source of perennial meditation, that this procession of the Holy Ghost, which becomes sensible to us, is eternal procession, simple and unique. A thrilling thought! The souls of men, like so many trees, have their roots fed in the eternal depths of the wisdom and love of God. That supernatural grace of God, which we have given to us by our Lord —the Holy Ghost,—traced to its source, goes back to the Son and yet on to the Father. Nay, there are not two processions, I repeat. The 'mission' of the Holy Ghost to our Christian hearts is the one, eternal, unremitting procession, of which our dull minds and leaden hearts receive for the first time a manifestation, when we have renounced sin and with it dispelled our soul-blindness. Feeble, low and delicately soft was the voice of the Spirit in the olden days, as longbearded prophet strained his ears to catch its languid witchery, a gentle wooing of the breath of August, but, it blew a gale at Pentecost, when the omnipotence of the Holy Ghost swept that upper chamber and afterwards quieted down to a revelation of secrets and an outpouring of tenderest love based on respect. What intervenes to shut out from us the manifestations of the majesty, of the potency and burning love of the Eternal Procession? Where is that Pentecostal gale, whilst like old lagoons, we tarry becalmed, nay, moored, on the waters of the Dead Sea, or moving with a disheartening slowness near the Jordan's shore, where a short leap would bring us to the shore and the old ways of sin and lethargy? The Holy Ghost is the medium between the Father and the Son in the sense in which He is the love of the Father for the Son and of the Son for the Father; the immanent terminus produced by that love is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, as subsistent love, has figured in the writings of the Fathers as the medium between the Father and the Son. He is called, accordingly, "The unity of Both" by St. Augustine and others, and by St. Bernard, "the mutual kiss of the Father and Son," and the "imperturbable peace," and the "sealing wax," and, "The indissoluble chain of the Trinity." In another sense, the Son is called the medium between the Father and the Holy Ghost.
